I think Goner Records said it best (via their Twitter page): “2010 – the killer takes out another“. So true. The year that fell so many greats took yet another on Friday, December 17th–Don Van Vliet, best known as Captain Beefheart. Let’s leave the eulogies to those who knew him best (like these HERE and HERE), but for the rest of us we can all join the collective sigh of “THIS SUCKS!”.

And as is de rigeur with any musician’s death today, many hours are spent on YouTube watching videos of them doing their thing. Here’s a little collection we found most inspiring.

In its entirety, the infamous Beefheart interview on The Tonight Show with David Letterman. Many Beefheartisms pulled from this one.

This short film “Some Yo Yo Stuff” by Anton Corbijn stands as an “observation of his observations” according to Corbijn. Pretty 90′s in a Bruce Weber way if you ask me, but it’s got a cool sequence with David Lynch.

Very good Beefheart doc narrated by John Peel. It’s split up into 6 parts on YouTube. Watch them all HERE!

Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band are tearing shit up on this one! The track is “I’m Gonna Booglarize You Baby” from The Spotlight Kid (1972). Bonus too that this one has, perhaps, the best video production…ever.

And we’ll sign of with this epic jam, “Upon The My-O-My”, captured on The Old Grey Whistle test in 1974.

Always a sad part of the year, tallying up the fallen,,,,Captain Beefheart, Ari Up, General Johnson, Mark Linkous, Jay Reatard, Richie Hayward…. Anyway the music lives, and throw on “Blue Collar” on the DVD/Blu-Ray for the Captain’s title song